The Red Sox announced that first baseman Nathaniel Lowe has been designated for assignment. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the move shortly before the official announcement. That opens a 40-man spot for Tristan Gray, who has been acquired from the Rays. The Sox are also designating right-hander Josh Winckowski for assignment, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News. That will open another 40-man spot, presumably for Boston to add someone ahead of today’s Rule 5 protection deadline.
The moves are effectively early non-tenders. Friday afternoon is the deadline for teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible and pre-arb players. But as mentioned, today is the deadline for adding players to the 40-man in order to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. By cutting these two players now, the Sox have made space for adding Gray and someone else in the coming hours.
It’s not a surprise that Boston isn’t bringing Lowe back. He was a midseason desperation addition. The Sox lost Triston Casas to injury early in the season, leaving a hole at first base. They had been patching that over with guys like Romy González and Abraham Toro. Lowe became available in August when the Nationals released him. He has a good overall track record but was having a bad season. The Sox were able to grab him for essentially nothing to bolster their first base group down the stretch.
The Sox also could have kept Lowe for 2026 via arbitration but it never seemed likely they would do so. He qualified for Super Two status going into 2023, giving him four arb passes instead of the usual three. He had already raised his salary to $10.3MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $13.5MM salary in 2026, which will be his age-30 season. The Sox presumably had no intention of paying that after Lowe hit .228/.307/.381 for a 91 wRC+ this year. They have Casas potentially coming back in 2026 and they could also pursue external additions.
Technically, Boston has some time to try to trade Lowe but other teams presumably aren’t keen on him at that $13.5MM price point either. He will likely stay in DFA limbo until Friday and then be non-tendered, becoming a free agent.
Once he’s officially on the open market, he will be an interesting bounceback candidate. As mentioned, his 2025 season wasn’t good, but he was a solid everyday first baseman for the Rangers for many years. From 2021 to 2024, he got into at least 140 games in four straight seasons, including at least 157 in the first three. He launched between 16 and 27 home runs in each of those. He also had a walk rate of 12.5% or higher in three of the four. He had a combined .274/.359/.432 slash line and 124 wRC+ for that span. FanGraphs credited him with 10.8 wins above replacement.
That strong performance helped the Rangers win the 2023 World Series and also pushed Lowe’s salary up into eight-figure territory. Those factors combined with his down year to make him a clear non-tender candidate.
Based on his track record, some club should give Lowe a big deal at some point, though at a lesser price point than his projected arbitration salary. He will jump into a first base market that has already seen Josh Naylor come off the board. Pete Alonso, Ryan O’Hearn, Luis Arráez and others are still out there, while Christian Walker and Willson Contreras are potential trade candidates.
Winckowski, 28 in June, has spent the past few years working in a swing role for the Sox. He has logged 242 1/3 innings over 21 starts and 100 relief appearances, allowing 4.20 earned runs per nine. His 18.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his his 8.3% walk rate is around average and his 51.6% ground ball rate quite strong.
He only logged 11 2/3 innings in the majors in 2025. He spent most of the first half on optional assignment in the minors. In June, the Sox called him up and put him on the big league 60-day injured list due to a a flexor strain in his right elbow. That allowed them to open a 40-man roster spot. Winckowski stayed on the IL for the rest of the year, collecting service time along the way. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so he retook a 40-man spot at that time.
His current health status is unknown but he was going to be on the roster bubble regardless. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. He also pushed his service time just over the three-year mark, therefore qualifying for arbitration. He is projected for a salary of $800K next year. That’s barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. But for a guy who was hurt for most of 2025 and can’t be easily sent to the minors anymore, the Sox aren’t keen to pay him at that level.
While he’s in DFA limbo, they could try to trade him elsewhere. He can be controlled for another three seasons and is relatively cheap. But it’s also possible he gets non-tendered alongside Lowe on Friday and ends up a free agent.
Photos courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Kevin Jairaj, Eric Canha, Imagn Images
aaaand one more for forrest whitley… today is a catalyst, buckle up
someone will pick up Winck
Certainly he’ll get an invite to spring training. I’m scratching my head on the pick up from Tampa.
I meant he’ll get claimed by someone…. if he’s healthy… which maybe not now that I think about it.
I don’t understand it either. The only way it makes sense if they are signing Alonzo and moving Casas in a deal somewhere it’s all I can think of. Gray does have options so maybe reading too much into it. Seems like a waste of a 40 man spot though.
Agreed, don’t see any point in wasting a 40-man roster spot on Gray. He’s the kind of guy you sign as a minor league FA and add to the roster only as needed.
Gray is 1B depth for Worcester. He is also a platoon partner for Romy Gonzalez if Casas is not ready for opening day. You could also say he is Toro’s replacement. He is a low cost 1B option (which Lowe was not low cost at an estimated $13 million arb price).
I have a feeling things are about speed up immensely the rest of today.
Buckle up! The churn is approaching.
Nathaniel Lowe to the Pirates?
Lowe will be unclaimed, then a free agent to sign where he wants. Could be a decent buy low candidate for them, but I think they are initially aiming higher.
I agree that Lowe will go unclaimed. The Pirates will sign him once the free agent first basemen market is established and all of the quality ones have not signed a deal with the Bucs.
You’d think an OPS+ of 121 (when with the Red Sox) would be enough to get him re-signed.
I’m wondering if Vaughn Grissom gets designated. He doesn’t have any options has to make the team seems like his spot would be more valuable for someone like Drohan.
Bruin – they cant possibly be considering using a 40Man for Grissom, right?
Grissom, Sogard, Eaton and now Gray are all currently occupying 40-man roster spots that really should be open right now. I’m sure if the team were to come to terms with any free agent one of those 4 would immediately be DFAed to make room.
Well, Gray is here now, so he’s probably staying. Quite honestly, I wouldnt care if all three of Grissom, Eaton and Sogard were DFA’d
Eaton and Sogard have options so they can be stashed in AAA they have value. The only reason not to dfa Grissom is that Breslow doesn’t want to admit a mistake in the return for Sale.
Love that Lowe was one of three Lowe’s in Rays organization at the same time once.. Shame one wasn’t related to the other two.
And one pronounced it differently.